Seems Semprae Laboratories, the makers of Zestra, a non-FDA approved blend of essential oils geared toward enhancing female arousal, can’t buy air time for love or money. But, it’s not that “non-FDA” label keeping networks from broadcasting the brand’s full two-minute spot. No, apparently the word “sex” and “sexual” are too much when coming from the lips of a woman.
“The Cialises of the world are a perfectly acceptable part of conversation in our culture today, but when it comes to talking about the realities of women’s lives, like menstruation, you always have some woman running in the field in a dress,” notes Semprae Laboratories president, Rachel Braun Scherl. “There’s a double standard when it comes to society’s comfort level with female sexual health and enjoyment.”
But, if society isn’t comfortable with female sexual health, it is certainly comfortable with the female intellect—because, for the first time, the majority of doctorate degrees in the U.S. have been awarded to women. The Council of Graduate Schools analyzed their data and found that for 2008-2009, female doctorate recipients moved up from their 50.4 percent share to 60 percent.
Of course, there’s still some gender disparity between fields, which needs to change. “If the U.S. is to remain competitive and economically strong,” remarked Nathan Bell, director of research and policy analysis for the Council of Graduate Schools, “it is important that we recruit and retain the best and brightest students in graduate education, and that means from all segments of the population.”
In other populations, the stepdaughter of the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is getting her Masters of Sexy by posing semi-clad and punky in Zoo, a proclaimed “lad mag.”
Staci Child the mohawked New Yorker appearing in the photos wearing an Australian-flag bikini, is the daughter of the Prime Minister’s partner, Tim Mathieson. Child’s stepmother was just sworn into office after a long, hard election battle, but so far, Child believes the Prime Minister will approve of the photo shoot, declaring, “I think Julia will think it’s a very Australian thing to do.” Seeing as the nation just elected an unmarried female Prime Minister, it seems Australian is a very cool mode of thinking. G’day, Mate!
“The Cialises of the world are a perfectly acceptable part of conversation in our culture today, but when it comes to talking about the realities of women’s lives, like menstruation, you always have some woman running in the field in a dress,” notes Semprae Laboratories president, Rachel Braun Scherl. “There’s a double standard when it comes to society’s comfort level with female sexual health and enjoyment.”
But, if society isn’t comfortable with female sexual health, it is certainly comfortable with the female intellect—because, for the first time, the majority of doctorate degrees in the U.S. have been awarded to women. The Council of Graduate Schools analyzed their data and found that for 2008-2009, female doctorate recipients moved up from their 50.4 percent share to 60 percent.
Of course, there’s still some gender disparity between fields, which needs to change. “If the U.S. is to remain competitive and economically strong,” remarked Nathan Bell, director of research and policy analysis for the Council of Graduate Schools, “it is important that we recruit and retain the best and brightest students in graduate education, and that means from all segments of the population.”
In other populations, the stepdaughter of the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is getting her Masters of Sexy by posing semi-clad and punky in Zoo, a proclaimed “lad mag.”
Staci Child the mohawked New Yorker appearing in the photos wearing an Australian-flag bikini, is the daughter of the Prime Minister’s partner, Tim Mathieson. Child’s stepmother was just sworn into office after a long, hard election battle, but so far, Child believes the Prime Minister will approve of the photo shoot, declaring, “I think Julia will think it’s a very Australian thing to do.” Seeing as the nation just elected an unmarried female Prime Minister, it seems Australian is a very cool mode of thinking. G’day, Mate!
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think the issue is quite the way Semprae is presenting it. While I'll agree that sex is still viewed in society in a male-centric way, the search for aphrodisiacs for women goes back to time immemorial. Anything that might be seen to cause some male's target of affection turn to putty is likely to be a hit in male-dominated circles.
What I suspect the problem is -- and this would be more telling -- is that the content of the ads is not about women turning to putty for their men, but about women who are empowered, and know what they want. This kind of empowerment isn't as conducive to communicating in euphemisms like "and suddenly her feng shui went away" -- in fact, any sense of empowerment would be undermined by having to soft-pedal it -- so advertisers end up being more blunt, giving broadcasters an excuse to complain that the content is over the top.
I don't know that I agree with that analysis—ads for Viagra and Cialis, all seem fairly direct and to the point about what they do and what they are for—the commercial for Zestra seems very similar to those commercials.
Think about all those Smiling Bob commercials for Enzyte—a product only designed to increase penis size (hardly a serious medical condition or impairment)— and how full of thinly veiled, supposedly humorous references to having a larger penis and blatantly phallic images... it makes you wonder what anybody who would allow an Enzyte commercial on their network would have against the Zestra commercial.